Knowledge of Angels is a philosophical story by Jill Paton Walsh set in a fictional country, Grandinsula, based on Mallorca, following an atheist named Palinor and a girl raised by wolves named Amara, and documenting their actions and responses to being thrust into a medieval Christian society.

The first 'Main Character', Palinor, is found washed up on a beach, near dead and with no forms of identification or proof that he is who he says he is- an elected Prince of a foreign land. No-one from Grandinsula has heard of this country, and it is soon learned he does not believe in God, an offense punishable by death. It falls to the Cardinal Prince of Grandinsula to convince Palinor to convert, and he delegates this task to the loyal Church scholar Beneditx. Beneditx has many theological conversations with Palinor, yet fails to convince him to convert (and, in fact, ends up suffering from a CrisisOfFaith himself).

The other side of the story, with Amara, focuses on how a group of nuns hope to raise her to become 'human', and yet keep her ignorant of God, so as to see whether knowledge of God is innate or learned- a plan orchestrated by Severo, as, if it can be proved that humans are not born with knowledge of God, then Palinor will not be held guilty of rejecting God- rejection can be punished, ignorance cannot be. However, though early tests with Amara would suggest knowledge is learned, she is later couched by the nun caring for her in proclaiming belief in God, so she will be let go rather than kept confined waiting to see if she finds it by herself. Thus it is left unclear as to whether this knowledge really is innate or not.

Either way, the Church authority uses this as proof of Palinor's sin, and puts him to death for heresy.

It's on the A level syllabus.

----!Contains examples of the following tropes:

* AsTheGoodBookSays: Used by the religious side of the main debates between Beneditx and Palinor, along with 'As [[WordOfDante Thomas Aquinas]] Says'.* AuthorTract: The entire book is one of these about theism and atheism, set as a story.* ChurchMilitant: The Holy Inquisition, naturally.* CoitusEnsues: About two-thirds of the way through the book, Palinor has a threesome with his (female [[BiTheWay and]] male) servants, which comes up quite unexpectedly while adding nothing to the plot. It also paints him in a somewhat bad light, given the {{questionable consent}} on their part as they're dependent on him for livelihood and used to obeying his orders.* CrisisOfFaith: Beneditx has one after talking with Palinor, and becoming convinced by Palinor's atheist retorts.* EasyEvangelism: {{Averted}} by how set Palinor is in his beliefs (or lack thereof), making Beneditx's job of converting him impossible. Palinor outright states he cannot be convinced.* HeelFaithTurn: Beneditx was hoping to cause one in Palinor, though Palinor wasn't a Heel to begin with (the Church saw Palinor as evil for rejecting God, and so Beneditx was hoping that, by converting Palinor, the Church would see him as good and spare him).* KarmaHoudini: Although the abbess curses them, she doesn't inform the authorities of the shepherds raping Amara, and they're never punished or even arrested. * ReligionIsRight: Beneditx thinks his arguments (Aquinas' 5 Ways) prove that God exists.* ReligionIsWrong: He realizes that they don't, which, to him, means that there is no evidence for a God, and so how could one exist?* StaticCharacter: Palinor is a big example of this, made more prominent by how much he changes those around him (for example, Palinor's beliefs are the same on the first and the last page, while Beneditx has had a CrisisOfFaith through merely talking with him).* TheSoulsaver: Beneditx (and Severo) try to be this for Palinor.* UnwittingPawn: Amara is one in Severo's plan to see if knowledge of God is innate or learned, and while Severo is not the villain, the plan ends up causing Palinor to be executed.* WildChild: Amara, raised by wolves from a young age, is one (and is actually based off of a real life feral child found in France).